Hey everyone! So my semester at school is winding down, the draft of Elemental is done (I've got my last meeting with my professor next Monday!), and I'm much less stressed than I expected to be two two weeks of school left (I have no real final exams). Generally, life has taken an upturn lately and I've had a lot of unexpected and probably really undeserved blessings. I'm hoping that once the semester ends and I'm on break I'll be able to get some chapters of Halfling as Warrior churned our! Unfortunately, I've decided to abandon Cursed. Its ending up just not working. But, I'll leave what's there up because backstory.

But enjoy this months business!

Chapter 24—(84)

Selene's POV

I froze. Well, that went from zero to a hundred in an instant. I unfroze and wrapped my arms around him. I wanted to make a joke, lighten the tension, but that would be rude.

"Want to tell me about it? You don't have to, but you know I'm willing to listen, hun."

"Give me a minute."

And I did. Several, in fact.

"I don't know if it's just coincidence, but Randal March is the name of my late best friend. He was killed almost exactly five years ago. The anniversary would be in February. The nineteenth, actually."

"Do you know how it happened?"

He nodded into my shoulder. "I'll get there. I should probably start at the beginning. Randy was also a nobleman's son. His mother is a good friend of mine, which is how we knew each other. We're some sort of distance cousins, but then again most nobel's are related somewhere along the line."

"Can I mention that it's a little disturbing how that is? It was like that in various places in Terra, too, though I believe that practice is mostly gone."

He gave a small snort at that. "Don't worry, not one of my brothers or I have physical deformities."

"I wasn't worried, though I'm not sure you can say that. I mean, look at this haircut! It's clearly in need of being un-deformified. …Is that a word?" I shrugged slightly. "It is now."

That got the desired reaction, a full laugh. "It it really bothers you that much I'll go get it cut. I mostly didn't cut it to annoy you."

"Ahah! He admits it!" I cried triumphantly. "But, go on."

He sighed, "Yes, well, Randy and I grew up together. He was like another elder brother to Elias, honestly. But Randy's other best friend was a boy by the name of Serge Durandal. As a merchant's son, my father didn't approve of me playing with him, so I didn't interact with him much until the academy. But Randy's parents are much less…biasedly conservative than my father, and so Randy spent a lot of time with Serge. The two were forever making messes with their 'experiments' and got into plenty of trouble. Randy and I, however, were much more tamed in our research. We stuck to scholarly stuff, because we knew that if I ever caused a mess like Serge and Randy, I wouldn't be allowed to see him anymore. Not that the messy held much appeal for me, anyway."

"You're almost scarily neat, Klaus. Have I ever told you that? I like order, I do, but I make messes when I'm working on something. You don't ever make messes. You just make more order. It doesn't make sense." My attempts at keeping it from getting too dark and heavy seemed to make it easier for Klaus to tell the story.

"Yes, yes, whatever you say dear," Klaus mocked, making me snicker. "But anyhow, the experiments the two of them got up to didn't stop when they got to the academy. The two of them ended up being roommates, while I was paired with a boy a few years older. He was a prefect, actually, and graduated the year before I became prefect."

"You've been predestined for this position, clearly."

I felt him smile briefly against my shoulder. "Well, those two being roommates, in addition to the plethora of resources from town and the school library, the experiments became more magical in nature. I often warned Randy about how Serge would drag him into more trouble, and that I was genuinely worried about how dangerous some of them were becoming. But he always insisted it would be fine, they were always careful enough to avoid serious injury. And it was true, up until the last experiment the two performed together."

He went silent, clearly building up the motivation to continue, and I took one of his hand in mine, beginning the hand massage thing he likes so much.

"They created a magical circle from a book they found in the archives. I've seen it. It's got all sorts of powerful magical symbols, along with explanations of their usages. They created one for summoning. Their intent was to summon a unicorn. Magical creatures of that calibre are incredibly difficult to summon, especially since they're so intelligent. The more intelligent the creature, the more complicated a summoning would be. The magic of the creature also carries a large effect. It's part of why necromancy is illegal, other than the moral beliefs. Summoning something from an afterlife is incredibly tricky and dangerous, and requires a lot of power. Too much power without proper confinement can put out the balance of the natural magic in the area."

"Maybe that's why there's places on Terra that do funky things to technology," I inserted, turning so I sat sideways in his lap and switching hands. "Like this place called the Bermuda Triangle. It causes all sorts of compases to function incorrectly, and it sinks ships and planes alike, among other odd phenomena. There's other places that have strange weirdness to them, too. Maybe those are places where huge transfer magic was performed? I've always had a suspicion this place called Stonehenge had something to do with the Wizard Merlin and his transfer of magical people back to Myula."

He nodded. "That's very possible and might warrant notifying a researcher who's more interested in that and more qualified."

"So those two tried to summon a unicorn, and something went horribly wrong?"

He closed his eyes. "The circle was drawn incorrectly. It was an improper circle and not even for a unicorn. It summoned a basilisk. From what I was told, Randy realized it just as the summoning was taking place. He shoved Serge under a table, accidentally knocking him out when Randy's head hit the edge, and ran to try and undo the summoning. He succeeded on sheer momentum—because he got an eyeful of the basilisk."

And was turned to stone.

I lifted Klaus' hand and gently kissed his palm, before hugging the arm. "Was it an accident, or deliberate?"

"I can't even tell you the answer for that. Serge never said which one of them drew the circle, but I think it was him. It was, in all likelihood, an accident. Serge had a tendency to get into dangerous accidents. It's why I didn't approve of the friendship between him and Randy. And Serge, I knew, was the one pushing for the summoning. He dragged my best friend to his death, and while I know Randy willingly gave his life to save Serge, I can't forgive Serge for his part in it."

Now I knew why Klaus was always such a perfectionist when it came to the magic circles for class. An improperly drawn circle killed his best friend.

"Oh honey…" I gave him a full hug now. It wasn't pity, but I was feeling sad alongside him.

"The worst part is that the killer ran from it. Got an internship and fled. He didn't even go to the funeral of the friend who's death he was responsible for. I know the March family forgave him, but I just can't bring myself to. And now he's back, it seems. Five years missing and suddenly he shows up? It's just too suspicious. I have to talk to the headmaster about letting someone so dangerous freely roam the grounds. Do you know where he went?"

I nodded, picking up his hand again. "Back into town, after Marelda and I questioned him on chimeras. I think he's probably staying at the same inn as Merlin, seeing as I'm pretty sure that's the only one in Stargate. Klaus, promise me you won't be irrational if and when you see him? Irrational and Klaus don't belong in the same sentence unless there's a 'not' between them. Leave the irrationality to me, okay?"

"I can't make that promise. At least not fully. Frankly, I'm probably going to give him a black eye before I even realize I've done it."

"…Okay, that's fair. But after that, please be rational? For me, if nothing else?"

"I can promise that I'll do my utmost to calm down."

"Good. And if I can, I'll keep him away from you until you feel ready to face him. Sound okay?"

He nodded, pulling his hand from mine and wrapping his arms around me. "Frankly I cannot believe my father is so deluded to believe he could make me leave you. He should know I'm just as stubborn as he is."

"Can I fight him? I want to fight him," I said. "I think I could take him in a duel, what do you think?"

"That no matter how ridiculous he is, he's still my father and I want him to not die at the hands of my girlfriend. But if you can promise not to kill or mortally wound him physically, go ahead and challenge him to a duel."

"Physically?"

"Love, you winning would destroy his pride. Which is perfectly fine, as it needs to be taken down a notch or seven."

"Can do, dearest." I laughed.

Skies above, while there's so much chaos in my life now, I wouldn't go back to that field in Terra, practicing my magic every once in a while, or studying my interest of the week. I wouldn't go back to being a fifteen year old who was happy and relatively sheltered, who only ever spent time with family and a few others.

After all, despite the recent bad, I've gained so many wonderful additions to my life. So many good friends, Klaus, and much more. I love my family, I do, but I'm glad I've gotten this change to expand my group of loved ones.

I wouldn't trade moments like this, cuddled in Klaus' arms as we dissolve the conversation into discussing magical duel tactics, for all the peace and quite of my life in Terra.